Defiant Harris weathers calls to have him ousted

Mayor's support eases pressure on police chief

Phoenix Public Safety Manager Jack Harris clearly thought his job was on the line Wednesday morning at a west Phoenix crime scene when he angrily pointed to the symbols of his rank and said: "Anyone who wants these stars can come and get them!"

Nobody had the guts to go after the ex-motorcycle cop and demand the stars - at least not yet.

Harris recently has been under political pressure amid allegations that his department knowingly inflated "border related" kidnapping numbers reported to federal authorities. Those numbers helped obtain a federal grant for the Police Department to augment crime-fighting efforts.

Though Councilwoman Peggy Neely put out a statement early Wednesday afternoon saying "the city manager . . . has advised the council of his intent to make a change in the day-to-day operations of the Phoenix Police Department," that change did not materialize later in the day.

In fact, Harris got a strong vote of confidence from Mayor Phil Gordon as those seeking the chief's head ran for cover.

"I have faith in Chief Jack Harris and his Police Department and his leadership," Gordon said at a Wednesday news conference. "Jack has played a vital and critical role in cutting crime in Phoenix."

It hasn't been an easy year for Harris, however.

In addition to the political flap over the kidnapping statistics, the chief has in the past year dealt with:

- An officer who threw an African-American councilman to the ground, prompting complaints about the department's conduct within the minority community.

- A shake-up of the South Mountain Precinct. Community discontent there was heightened when Officer Richard Chrisman shot a domestic-violence suspect, leading to murder charges against the officer. In addition, an Arizona Attorney General's Office investigation resulted in the indictments of four officers for suspected fraud.

- Sgt. Sean Drenth's death under mysterious circumstances near the state Capitol, leading to an ongoing investigation that has yet to identify a suspect in the case.

- The head of the police union claiming officer morale is abysmal and calling for Harris' resignation.

It has been the kidnapping-numbers controversy that would not go away. First, federal auditors came to see if the numbers had been fudged. They have not yet reported back.

Then, a police spokesman announced that some of the police reports submitted for the grant were not kidnappings and some real kidnappings had not been reported at all. Then the real trouble began.

Television reports Tuesday night indicated City Manager David Cavazos planned to reassign Harris amid the political turmoil.

That despite the fact that crime has been significantly lower under Harris' tenure and the chief just days ago received an exemplary performance review, Gordon said.

At his morning news conference praising Harris, Gordon said "political forces were at work" to perhaps reassign Harris, but he did not elaborate.

Wednesday afternoon Cavazos and Harris met. Neither had any comment on what happened at that meeting. Afterward, however, when it was widely expected that Cavazos would announce Harris' departure, Cavazos refused to speak to the controversy and instead issued a statement.

"Questions have been raised about the Police Department's kidnapping statistics," the statement said. "It is imperative that all of the Police Department's statistical reporting is accurate and above reproach. City management will be reviewing the Police Department's reporting processes and making sure their information is correct and of the highest quality."

The statement said more information would be released Friday.

After the statement was released, at least three council members expressed anger at Cavazos because they were under the impression that Harris would be reassigned. Some even put out public statements to that effect.

Neely said: "We need a good manager and managers lead; managers don't fold and go another direction after they give you a plan."

He said he would talk to Cavazos today and say, "This is at your doorstep. You, David, are responsible for the information that comes out of this office. You have to accept responsibility and you are going to be held accountable for it."

While anger and recriminations rocked City Hall, Assistant Chief Andy Anderson sought to put the kidnapping-numbers controversy into perspective.

Anderson said the numbers were from 2008, when "we were hammered" by border-related kidnappings and home invasions. He said he knew that "some mistakes had been made in reporting."

"Were there clerical mistakes made?" Anderson said. "Yes; but no deliberate misreporting. We said we had 359 kidnappings reported to us in 2008. In fact, we had a lot more than that. To say we don't have a problem, as Jack said this morning, you gotta be living under a rock."